Emergency-wheel skid



C. D. OLAND.

EMERGENCY WHEEL SKID. APPLICATION'FILED AUG-13,1919.

1,375,063. Patented Apr- 1 ,1921.

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CHARLEY ID. GLAND, OF CENTRALIA, ILLINOIS.

EMERGENCY-HEEL SKID.

T 0 all whom it may concern: Be it known-that I, CHARLEY D. OLAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Centralia, in the county of Marion, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Emergency-Wheel Skids; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to skids such as are employed in railroad yards. In the shifting of cars in the making upof trains, the cars are successively cutloose under way at the hump, beyond which they gravitate to their respectivepositions and which gravitation is controlled by the hand brakes, It frequently happens that the brakes fall to work, and when this'occurs, there is a wreck not'only of the 'car in motion, but of one or more ofthe cars of the train that is in themaking.

It is the object of the present lnvention to provide skids that may be readily placed upon the track in advance of the runaway car, by an attendant provided for that-purpose, and'which by reason of itsparticular construction, will stop the car within a short distance and without injury to it.

Further objects'of the invention have to do with the provision of means for properly distributing weight, means for automati-' cally sanding thetracklin advance of the skid and means for causing the skidto ride over inequalities at the rail joints, which in yards are not so carefully maintained as upon the road. o 7

Other objects and advantages of the invention, will be understood from the following description. In the drawings, V Figure l is a perspective view showing a skid embodying the present invention.

' Fig. 2 is a section taken longitudinally and vertically" through a skid embodying the present invention, the sander operating rod. being'in elevationat its body portion and the position ofthe tread of a wheel bein indicated in dotted lines.

' I ig. 3 is'a rear perspective view of the sand box removed from the skid and showing the construction and arrangement of the Specification of Letters Patent. ltf'ai entqgd A -.19 j ggl Application filed August 13, 1919.

Serial No. 317,173.

closure for'the discharge opening, and its actuating rod.

Fig. ts a front end view of the skid.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a skid comprising abody 5, from which extends the tail 6, designed to rest, with the adjacent portion of the body, upon the tread surface of a railroad rail.

The body 5 of the skid is hollow and its forward end is open, as illustrated, the opening extending through the adja ent end portion of the bottom of the head, for a purpose to be presently explained.

To prevent lateral movement of the skid from the rail, while permitting sliding movement longitudinally of it, there are provided flanges 7 and 8 that depend from the body 5 with their outerside faces forming continuations of the corresponding side faces of the body, the spacing of these flanges being slightly greater than the width 7 of the rail upon which the skid is to be used.

In practice, the skid is disposed upon the rail with the free end portion of its tail in the direction of the approaching car,

face of the body 5 substantially midway of the length of the latter, and this curvature has a radius somewhat less than that of the car wheel, so that pressure of the wheel will be uponthe skid at widely separated points to distribute the pressurethroughout the rail-contacting portion of the skid," with substantially uniform friction upon the rail. From the foregoing description it will be understood that a skid is disposed upon.

eitheror'both rails, and that when active,

they slidealong the rails, and;by friction thereon, stop the progress of the car.

It will be noted that the forward end of the bottom of the body 5 is'beveled at its underside, as shown at 9', and when the skid encounters a minor obstruction, such as the slight upward displacement of a rail end, this bevel strikes the obstruction and guides the skid over it,

It will be noted that the flanges depend below the bottom of the body somewhat more than the height of the bevel and so as to provide against lateral displacement of the skid from the rail even when the skid is raised over the obstruction.

To provide against lodgment of the skid against an end rail projecting upwardly a distance greater than the height of the bevel, a roller 11 is mounted upon, a pin 12 transversely of the body of the skid, within its forward end portion, the lowermost portion of this roller being slightly below the 7 upper end of the bevel 9. It will of course be understood that when this roller' 11 strikes a rail end, it rotates and lifts the skid so that its bevel 9 will strike the rail end and further lift the skid onto it.

To provide for sanding the rail, a sand box 13 is disposed within the hollow body above and rearwardly of the roller 11, the box having a' discharge spout 14% that depends behind the roller and terminates slightly above the bottom of the chamber 15 of the body and inadvance of the bottom so that it may discharge sand onto the rail between the roller and the bevel 9'.

The spoutlt is normally closed by all shaped closure plate that includes a bight portion 16 extending throughout thewidth of the discharge opening of the spout, and upwardly directed side portions 17 that pivotally engage the stub shafts 18 respectively that project laterally from the lower converged portions 19 of the ends of thespout.

In order that the closure plate may-be 'automatically'swung from closing position and permit .of a feed of sand immediately upon engagement of a car wheel upon the skid, there is-provided an actuating rod 20 that passes slidably through an opening 21 in the rear wall of the chamber 15. The outer end of this rod "20 extends slightly beyond the face of the concavity 10 while its inner end is yoked, the arms 2270f the yoke being pivoted respectively to the upper end portions of the arms 17 of the U shaped closure plate, above the shafts 18. With this construction it will be seen that when the car wheel enters upon the skid,it strikes the outer end of the rod 20 and forces it inwardly, causing the closure plate of the sand box to swing to open position and permit of discharge of sand. onto the rail. The

rod 20 is held normally and yieldably in position to hold the closure plate active, by

means of a helical spring 23that is disposed in the countersunk outer end portion 2 1of the opening 21 and bears at one end against the bottom of the counter sink, with its other endagainst a pin 25 that is, passed through the rodQO. I The sand box is shown as provided with a hinged closure 26 at its forward end and a spring finger 27 that bears against the closure 26 and holds it normally active,

provision being thus made for readily 'sup- 7 The box is held 7 1. A skid of the class described including a rail engaging portion having rail support- LIlgPOltlODS on its upper face spaced long tudlnally of the rall'engagmg portion and disposed to hold the tread of a wheel free from-the portion of the skid therebetween.

'2. A skid of the class described including a rail engaging portion having wheel supporting portions spaced longitudinally of its upper face and disposed to hold the tread of a wheel free from the portion of the skid therebetween, the skid at one end having its upper face beveled from that extremity of the skid to the corresponding wheel supporting portion.

, 3. A skid of the class described having a sanding device and means operable by a wheel upon the skid for rendering the sand ing device active. I Y

- 1. A skid of the class described having a sanding device provided with a discharge opening'and a normally closed closure, and means operable by a wheel upon the skidfor shifting the closure to open position.

5. Askid of the class described having the forward end of its lower face beveled and a transverse roller disposed in advance of the bevel with its lowermost portion touching a plane between the upper and lower ends of the bevel, the skid having laterally spaced longitudinal flanges which dei pend below the bottom face of the skid a distance greater than the height of the 'bevel,

whereby to prevent lateral displacement of the skid from a rai influence of the bevel.

6. A skid of the class described having 1 when raised under the r a transverse roller disposed at its'forward.

end and above and forward of the rail-tread engaging bottom face of the skid, theskid' 7 having laterally displaced longitudinal.

flanges depending below its bottom. 7 7. A skid of the class described comprising a hollow body open at its front end and the front-portion of its bottom, and a roller 'dis- I posed transversely of the body and exposed forwardly and downwardly through-the corresponding open portions ofthe-body-with its lowermost portion touching a :plane slightly above the bottom face of the body.

8. A skid of the class described compris- Ii ing a hollowbody opening at its front end and the front portion of its bottom, a roller disposed transverselyof the body and ex-' posed forwardly and downwardly through In testimony whereof, I affix m the corresponding open portions of the body, in the presence of two witnesses. a sand holder within the body having a discharge spout disposed to discharge through 5 the open portion of the body in the rear of the roller, and means for controlling feed of sand from the sand box.

Witnesses:

LOUIS W. WoLEY,

GEO. MAIN.

y signature OHARLEY D. OLAND. 

